ways
- 1Plural of way.
The two cultures differ in countless ways.
Engineers explored multiple ways to reinforce the aging bridge.
Note
A regular plural, formed with -s. It does much of its work in the abstract senses of way. Customs and values sit naturally in the plural, as in their ways or the old ways, and method becomes countable here, as in in many ways or ways and means. The same spelling also serves as an informal American word for distance.
- 2A distance, especially a fairly long one, typically following the word a in casual speech.
There's still a ways to go before we reach the summit.
He drove a good ways past the exit before noticing his mistake.
Note
An American colloquialism that looks plural but behaves as one stretch of ground: it takes a, and often little or good, as in a little ways out or a good ways past the exit. Figuratively it measures progress rather than miles, as in Aryn Kyle's The God of Animals (2007): "You still have a ways to go with everything." In formal writing, a long way is the safer choice.
ways is a form of way
way, noun: A method or manner of doing something, or a person's characteristic manner or habit. Full entry
- Forms
- wayways plural
- Spelling
- way → ways: add -s
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /z/.
Use it in a sentence
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